WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve is all but sure to leave interest rates alone when it ends a policy meeting Wednesday at a time of steady gains for the U.S. economy but also heightened uncertainty surrounding the new Trump administration.
The Fed will likely signal that it wants further time of monitor the progress of the economy and that it still envisions a gradual pace of rate increases ahead.
“I don’t look for the Fed to do anything this week,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University. “They are starting to get their ducks in a row for further rate hikes, but it will be too soon to pull the trigger.”
The Fed’s two-day meeting will end with a policy statement that will be studied for any signals of its outlook or intentions. At the moment, most economists foresee no rate increase even at the Fed’s next meeting in March, especially given the unknowns about how President Donald Trump’s ambitious agenda will fare or whether his drive to cancel or rewrite trade deals will slow the economy or unsettle investors.
It’s always possible that the central bank could surprise Fed watchers Wednesday by sending a signal that a rate hike is coming soon. In Fed parlance, that signal could be as slight as changing language in its statement to say “near-term risks to the economic outlook appear in balance,” instead of “roughly in balance,” the phrase it has been using.